By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine and Queen’s College Comets winning their elimination matches, the stage is now set for the semi-final of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Bahamas Football Association’s inaugural National High School Soccer Championships.

On Monday at the Roscow Davies Playing Field in the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, the Big Red Machine whitewashed the CC Sweeting Cobras 1-0 in their senior girls’ preliminary match on Mya Bowe’s lone goal.

And the Comets breezed past the CV Bethel Stingrays 6-1 in the boys’ encounter as David Burrows booted in two and Matthew Richardson, Benjamin Moultrie-Grant, Justin McKenzie and Kyle Wilson got in one each, while Kevin St Fort scored the lone goal in the loss. (See photos on 2E)

Yesterday, the draw was held to determine who will play who in the semi-final matches on Thursday starting at 4pm.

Adam Miller, assistant secretary general of the BFA, along with Cynteea Edgecombe and Rhonda Grant of the Sports Unit at the Ministry of Education, conducted the draw that included the two champions from both the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools and the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association.

They will be joined by the Lucayan International School and the Sir Jack Hayward Wildcats, the girls’ and boys’ respective representatives from Grand Bahama. Those two teams will be coming in town on Thursday and will play the feature matches in the two divisions.

During the draw, the GSSSA champions CR Walker were drawn first and will play against SAC in the first senior girls’ game at 4pm. That will be followed by a showdown between the BAISS champions Queen’s College Comets and Lucayan International School at 5:30pm.

On the boys’ side, BAISS champions St Andrew’s Hurricanes were drawn first and will square off against the GSSSA champions CR Walker at 6:30pm. Then in the feature contest at 8pm, the Comets will be matched against the visiting Jack Hayward.

The winners of the two games in each division will advance to the championship games on Saturday, while the losers will get an opportunity to play for the bronze medal.

“I really want to thank the Bahamas Football Association for putting on these championships,” said Evon Wisdom, who is in charge of the Sports Unit at the Ministry of Education. “We just want to personally thank the president Mr Anton Sealey and his staff. Mr Sealey has provided Mr Adam Miller, the organiser of this tournament.

“The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is just facilitating these nationals as we have done so with all of the others (volleyball, basketball and track and field). Yesterday, in the preliminary rounds, we got two teams and we have the championship teams that will be playing against them.”

Through an agreement with ZNS and BTC, Wisdom said the games will be shown live throughout the region on Saturday with the assistance of Flo Region. The other games will be streamed in rebroadcast showing by BTC.

Wisdom is encouraging the student body and the alumni to come out and watch the teams play on Thursday.

Miller said they have made the entry fee attrative with the admission for adults $5 and high school students $3.

However, Miller said those students who attend Saturday’s finale in their uniform or school shirts will only be charged $1. Children under 12 will be admitted free of charge.

On Friday at 6pm, the four teams playing in the championship will be feted to a reception at the BFA’s beach soccer facilities at the foot of the Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge on East Bay Street.

The third place games will begin on Saturday at 10am and the championships will start at 2pm, just after the official opening ceremonies.

The only school on hand to view the draw was CR Walker, which was represented by Tia Rolle, the subject coordinator of the Physical Education Department. She noted that they are excited about their match-ups, but are looking forward to continuing their impressive performances in all of the other sports this year.

“We played Queen’s College in a scrimmage game and we have an opportunity to show our skills against SAC in a semi-final game,” she said. “I think we are very prepared. We have a practice session today (yesterday) to go over some issues like the goal kicks and corner kicks, so I think our girls will be well prepared. They are anxious to be in the semi-final, so I think it will be a very good game.”

As for their boys, Rolle said they have a very strong team, having gone undefeated as they culminate a three-year relationship together.

“So I think the chemistry is there and if they play our game and pass the ball, they should come out victorious,” Rolle said. “It should be a very good game.”

With two teams playing in the soccer nationals, the Knights are adding to their participation in the volleyball nationals where they won both titles in Grand Bahama; their girls team were the runners-up in the basketball nationals and in the track and field nationals, the Knights won the under-20 girls’ division and their boys were second or third.

“Nationals for me, I don’t think should be judged by the amount of athletes,” Rolle said. “CR Walker only has four divisions so we didn’t go to nationals to win the overall title. We only put our emphasis in the under-20 division. I think the nationals should be judged by the divisions and not the schools. “If you are competing in a division, you should be awarded for the division that you compete in. I don’t think you should be judged by the private schools and the government schools. I don’t think you should have an overall division if you have six divisions and (a school like) CR Walker can not put athletes in six divisions, We are only a senior school.”